The two quickly walked behind a large boulder, where the other villagers could no longer see them.
"Speak, what exactly happened?" Adam asked.
"To reply to the Immortal Master, it’s like this, a while ago, we did many things we would never have done in the past." Cecil’s voice trembled slightly.
"What things?" Adam prompted.
"Evil deeds, robbery, violence, destruction, everyone in our village seemed unable to control the evil thoughts in their hearts, acting recklessly and arbitrarily."
"Originally, our village was very united, we never had conflicts, and even if we did, we quickly made up, when neighbors faced difficulties, we helped whenever we could."
"Take that little boy, his parents were the village sculptors, to carve a flawless deity statue, they rushed day and night, but one evening while carving, they slipped and fell off the cliff, so the boy was raised by our entire village."
"But during that time, it was as if we had turned into different people, regardless of gender or age, everyone went completely mad."
Cecil’s tone was heavy, the memories of that period were something he never wanted to recall, a dark secret buried in the hearts of all the villagers.
Adam frowned, he knew Cecil was likely speaking conservatively, he understood being polluted by evil thoughts, even he had nearly failed to suppress his murderous intent, let alone ordinary people, these villagers had likely done exceedingly extreme things.
"Then how did you regain your clarity?" Adam asked.
"Three days ago, suddenly, pillars of light and meteors appeared in the sky, converging into a massive dome, after that, we woke up." Cecil’s eyes were full of confusion.
"Then a memory was left behind in my mind, it was a memory of the Evil God stimulating our evil thoughts, we all sensed that the source was the deity statue."
Adam raised his eyebrows, three days ago was exactly when they deployed the World Protection Barrier, so it was really effective.
Perhaps the Evil God hadn’t had time to retrieve its controlling will on these villagers, getting abruptly severed inside these villagers’ minds, thus, they became aware of the Evil God’s existence.
"So that’s how it is." Adam breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn’t a design flaw, it was fine.
"You don’t need to worry, I am the one who deployed that barrier, now the Evil God can no longer influence the mortal realm."
Adam revealed his identity, that little boy was quite pitiful, the statue was probably his only spiritual sustenance, destroying it would be heartbreaking.
"You are..." Cecil looked at Adam in disbelief, this man had no reason to deceive him.
"Alright, go back." Adam waved his hand, preparing to leave.
Although it wasn’t a design flaw, a new problem had emerged, because the Evil God’s will hadn’t been retrieved, many people across the world likely now knew of the Evil God’s existence.
Individuals with malicious intentions would surely try to communicate with the Evil God for power, although the Evil God couldn’t respond through the barrier, someone would use this to swindle and deceive.
He needed the Book Saint to issue a public proclamation warning people about the dangers.
"Immortal Master, is everything really alright? Does the statue not need to be destroyed?"
Cecil naturally didn’t want to destroy it, it was their patron deity, unless absolutely forced, they wouldn’t commit such a taboo ever in their lives.
"No need to destroy the statue, all polluted statues have returned to normal." Adam shook his head.
"Thank you, Immortal Master!"
"I’ll be taking my leave." Array light lit up beneath his feet as he prepared to teleport.
"Wait, Immortal Master." A small figure rushed from behind the boulder and lunged at Adam.
"Please take me as your disciple." The little boy was about to charge into the formation.
Adam waved his hand and restrained the boy, truly reckless with his life.
He had sensed the boy eavesdropping, but it didn’t matter, however, he didn’t expect the kid to be so bold, charging into an active teleportation formation, wasn’t he afraid of being split in two?
"I beg you, please take me as your disciple." the boy shouted, eyes brimming with longing.
"Why? Why should I take you?" Adam halted the teleportation.
"Because I want to kill the Evil God, because of the Evil God, my best friend died in the village riots." His body trembled, agony spreading across his eyes.
But quickly, his gaze hardened. "Also, the life’s blood my parents sacrificed their lives to carve... I will not allow such a filthy existence to defile it."
"I will kill the Evil God, I want to slaughter the Evil Gods completely clean."
The voice was childish, yet genuine murderous aura emanated from it, exceedingly rare in a boy of six or seven.
Adam was slightly taken aback, looking at the boy with a hint of amusement.
"Taking you as a disciple is not impossible, but the trial will be incredibly grueling, have you truly thought this through?"
Adam placed great importance on temperament, he believed a cultivator’s mindset was far more crucial than talent, a cultivator with a powerful mindset, even if lacking talent, would surpass many peers, he had countless ways to improve innate talent, but a person’s core nature was exceedingly difficult to change.
"Yes, no matter how grueling it is, I can take it." the boy replied without hesitation.
"Don’t be so quick to answer, hurry back and pack your things, I will give you ten minutes, if you’re not back by then, I leave, however, even if you make it back in time, I am only taking you for a trial, if you fail, I send you right back here."
Adam slowly shook his head.
"Ten minutes? How is that possible." Cecil exclaimed, given the distance to the village, even a regular adult running at full sprint would take at least fifteen minutes just for a one-way trip, let alone a round trip.
A/N:
Extra Chapters
Dragon - 1 Extra Chapters
Magic Castle - 5 Extra Chapters